Regrets of the Living
by theArchivest
Summary: Rescue. Could it be the song of salvation or the toll of doom?


Page | 13

Chapter 1

Think of hell and how unimaginably horrible it is. Now, think of every other representation of hell you've ever seen and add that to your own. That doesn't even come close to describing what life is like now. It has been called by some religious extremists as Judgment Day but I don't believe that BS. In my opinion someone just fucked up and destroyed the whole bloody planet. Now unless the reader of this is an idiot they already know what happened but just in case you were sleeping or something and missed it, I'll tell you. Zombies rose and basically exterminated mankind. No one seems to know just how it happened but most everyone agrees with me. Someone fucked up in containing a measly class 1 outbreak and it spread until nothing could stop it. I have no memory of the event, in fact I'm missing a rather large chunk of my memory. Anyways, I was lucky and was prepared but most people weren't and were quickly devoured. The only reason I'm still alive is because I managed to find three other badass partners and we're smart and careful.

At least we were until we got "infected" with the one thing that has killed off so many groups and that we had tried to avoid. It was the hope of rescue. We had just assumed that civilization and government had all collapsed and that we were all we had left. But then we heard an emergency broadcast about an evac that was taking place near us and we dared to hope it was salvation. I can't believe that we were as stupid as that. We had everything going for us, food water, an invisible fortress and so much more. We didn't need this so called "salvation" but I guess the rest of the group was tired of the solitude and must have longed of human contact so much that it overrode their common sense. So, the next day we packed up everything we needed and headed out to the evac point.

Now when I say the evac point was close I mean as the crow flies. It was located in Detroit and was only 35 miles that way. But over land it was more like 65 and through rugged terrain and a couple small towns. That didn't deter us however and we set off at first light. Things actually went according to plan for the first day and we were able to avoid combat for the most part. What zombies we did have to kill died silently and efficiently. By the end of the day we had covered roughly 10 miles and had found a safe place to stay the night. Eathen and I took the first watch while Steve and Kate drifted off to sleep. The spot we had chosen as our refuge was a small, two story house in the middle of a nice open field so we had superb fields of fire. After a brief firefight with our single silenced weapon we had cleared the house and set up camp on the second floor. Now my job was to destroy the single staircase in the house while Eathen kept watch out the windows. We had found an old kerosene lantern inside the house as well as a usable axe and sledgehammer. It was hard work because whoever had made these stairs apparently had wanted them to last for the next hundred years but after about 2 hours of work I had destroyed a fair portion of the bottom end which would be sufficient unless we got a large horde in which case we would already be making excuses and heading for the exit.

Anyways, about midnight Steve came and relived me so I could sleep. It felt like I had just laid my head down to go to sleep when Kate was shaking me awake. I sat up groggily and look to my right to see Steven waking up Eathen. I was about to ask what was up when I heard the telltale sound of an approaching horde. "Sorry," said Kate, "one must have snuck past us and apparently the burglar alarm was still working even though _someone,_" she turned and looked at Steve, "said that he had deactivated it."

"Hey, sorry I though it was but apparently it had one of those special programs…"

"Whatever, now we just need to go. We turned it off again but a horde is on its way and we need to move." With that Kate turned and headed for the escape route.

"Smooth move there buddy." I said as a grabbed my gun and followed Kate. Our escape route fortunately clear and we were able to sneak away before the full bulk of the horde had closed in on the house. The few early birds were easily displaced with melee weapons before they could alert the rest. The rest of the night we spent on the move, only stopping for brief rests. About 5 o'clock in the morning we came to our first major obstacle, freeway I-75. Now common sense would dictate that we should avoid freeways but we had a lot of ground to cover and a short time window so we really had no choice. Fortunately this stretch of freeway was relatively free of cars so we didn't really have to worry about lurkers, zombies that had reanimated inside of cars. But we were still on high alert and were very wary after what had happened last night. We had been hiking for about 2 hours when we decided to look for a working car.

Most of them were rusting pieces of junk but some were still usable and after a short argument we agreed on two cars. One was a jeep with an open back, so we could shoot out of it, and a ¾ full gas tank. The second one was a SUV that had obviously been owned by a redneck in a former life because it hade a small dozer blade on the front and in the back were 2 Uzis, a combat shotgun and an oversized ammo crate. The real treasure however, was a fully stocked first aid kit with painkillers. After bandaging a couple of minor injuries we each got into out vehicles, me and Eathen in the jeep with our heavy weapons (an AK-47 and the Uzis) and Steve and Kate in the redneck SUV with all our gear. The vehicles stood us in good stead for a while but soon we were forced to drive along the median as the amount of cars started to increase the closer we got to populated areas. We traded of drivers every hour and it was while I was switching from the drivers seat to gunner position when life got interesting.

Eathen was walking around to the driver's side when he strayed too close to a wrecked car and a rotting hand reached out and grabbed his shirt. He screamed and jerked away from the car but that rolled him into another car which had more zed heads in it. "Fuck!" I yelled, "Will you move so I can get a shot!"

"I'm trying! Just help will you?" he cried. Just then one of the zombie's heads exploded and Kate appeared with the newly acquired combat shotgun.

"Take that you sons of bitches!" she yelled while she turned another's head into mushy pulp. The remaining two zombies turned and let go of Eathen who rolled out of the way and brought his pistol to bear, nailing them both between the eyes.

"Thank you, sorry I'll be more careful." said Eathen humbly to Kate after the firefight.

"Don't mention it, just watch your back please." She replied. Just then they heard Steve cry,

"Hey guys, over here, I found another survivor!"

"What?" we all looked at each other and then ran towards him. When we got there Steve was holding a ruffled, dirty man by his collar.

"I just found him trying to steal some of our supplies." explained Steve and shook the man for emphases. "What should we do with him?"

"I wasn't stealing nothing!" cried the man, panic showing in his eyes.

"I don't know, maybe we should feed him to some lurkers," suggested Eathen glancing at the cars with an evil look, "They're hungry enough."

"I've got an idea," exclaimed Steve suddenly, "we should let him join the group."

"What?" cried the three of us in unison.

Kate chimed in, "After he tried just to steal our stuff?"

"Big deal, so what? Besides he won't be with us for long, just until we get to the evac point and everyone deserves to get rescued."

"Fine, but the moment he causes any trouble we're dumping him wherever we are." replied Kate in a huff.

"Excellent, now what's your name fella?" asked Steve

"G-George," he replied.

"Well George, welcome to the crew." replied Steve enthusiastically.

Chapter 2

After a short discussion it was decided that George would ride in the SUV with Steve and Kate. Meanwhile, Eathen and I grabbed some ammo from our stash and reloaded the weapons we had used. We also recharged the used pistol clips of Eathen's. Ten minutes from when George joined our group we were on the road again and back on track. While we were driving I asked Eathen what he thought about our group's newest member.

"I don't trust him. And frankly, I don't trust Steve's judgment on this matter either. I mean what we're doing is dangerous enough without inviting every stranger we meet along the way to join us. What do you think?"

"I agree. Also we didn't check him for any bite wounds. Do you think we should have?"

"I don't know. That's a good question. When we stop again I think we should just to be sure. I mean we don't want to wait and have him infect… shit!" Eathen swerved the vehicle sharply to the left to avoid a smashed van that had skidded into the median. Eathen skillfully guided the jeep around the obstacle and back on to the road. "You got zombies on your left. Take them out."

"Right ho, knocking them down." I leveled my AK-47 and squeezed off a neat, three round burst which nailed the first one right between the eyes. I dealt with the next two in a similar manner but before I could hit the fourth Eathen sped up and rammed in head on. "What are you doing? Just drive and let me handle the kills."

"Sorry, I just wanted to nail one for myself. Carry on back there."

"Thanks sooo much. I guess I can't blame you though, by the way, left."

"I see it, I see it." He wrenched the wheel around, barely avoiding the wrecked cars that littered the road.

"Shit," he swore, "Looks like a every goddamn zombie in the state is up ahead. Get ready to fight!"

"I'm locked and loaded. You better tell Kate to get ready." I shouted, "We may need her to plow a path for us."

"Good idea, I'll do it right now. Just keep them off our backs until I'm done." With than he pulled off to the side and powered on the two way radio that we had taken from a semi-truck and slapped in the passenger seat. "This is Gunboat calling Carrier. Repeat, this is Gunboat calling Carrier. Do you copy over?"

For a split second my vision flashed and a rapid, blinding slideshow of images went through my mind but they were gone before I could grab them. The only thing I snagged was the lingering feeling of combat. I came back to the present as Eathen was saying, "Sorry, old habits die hard and that not the point right now. We've got a large horde up ahead that's going to smell us any minute. We'll provide cover fire but we need you to clear a path for us. Would you mind?"

"Sure, I wouldn't mind killing some zed heads. Just follow right behind us and watch where you shoot. This is Carrier over and out."

"Roger Carrier, over and out. Hey, you ready back there?"

I shook my head, swapped out the clip in my AK and racked a round into the chamber. "You bet. Now, let's have some fun." Eathen grinned and revved the engine before pulling out behind the SUV drove past us. I could see Steve's upper body poking out of the sun roof with a rifle as they went past. Then I forgot about them as Eathen pull in behind them and we floored it in the direction of the horde. Now if you have never seen a modified SUV plow through a crowd of people I can tell you it's worth the price of admission. It's even more satisfying if the crowd happens to be made up of zombies. The first zombies that they hit literally flew about 20 feet in a shower of blood and limbs. It was less impressive after that as the SUV just basically plowed a bloody swath through the mass leaving more alive than it really killed. But that was where we came in, we got to clean up their gory mess. But we didn't mind and went at the task with vigor. Eathen floored it down the clear path while I filled the air on ether side of us with lead. I had, up to this point, been using my AK on burst setting so I could be more accurate but now that we were in the middle of a horde, I switched to an Uzi on full auto. I hosed the area around us with covering fire and watched as rank after rank of undead fell but the god damn fuckers just kept coming.  
>I had already ripped through three mags and was half way through my fourth when we broke out of the carnage. The SUV had already gotten through and was waiting a little bit up the road. I was about to breath a sigh of relief when the unthinkable happened. In his rush to get away Eathen hadn't watched were he was going and he rammed a bus head on. The jeep's front crumpled and the back wheels lifted off the ground and hung for a moment before coming crashing down. I was almost thrown from the back but managed to hold on to the roll bars. Eathen was also lucky because his seatbelt held and kept him from going through the windshield. But now we had a bigger problem. The horde that we had just merrily driven through was now only 50 feet away and sprinting right at us with a chorus of haunting moaning. "We got to move! Now Eathen!" I yelled as he cut his seatbelt with a hunting knife and kicked out the warped door.<p>

"I know, I know, come on and grab the guns!" he then jumped out of the wrecked jeep and drew his two trusty 9mm Sing Saucer. "Let's get the fuck out of here!" Unfortunately I had lost the Uzi I had been using when we crashed but my trusty AK and the other Uzi were still secure. I slung the Uzi over my shoulder and emptied the crate of ammo I had been using into a backpack which also went over my back. By this time the horde was almost upon us and I barely had time to get out of the jeep before I was fighting for my life.

"We need help. Cover me while I get to the radio!"

"No, that's suicide. I think that they can tell we need help by themselves. I just hope that they get here quick or we're toast." As he said that he was steadily retreating while shooting zombies in the face with deadly accuracy. Suddenly we were temporarily blinded by a white light and then the SUV pulled up with a screech.

"You guys need some help?" asked Kate as she calmly leaned out the window and blew off a zombie's head with a well placed 12 gauge round.

"Come on, get in the car now!" we looked behind us and saw George with a machete motioning at us to get in the back. "Come on, I'll cover you."

"Go, go, go!" I yelled and ran for the SUV. Eathen made it first and jumped in the back but I stumbled and almost tripped. George cursed and jumped out to help me. He hacked off a pair of zombies heads and pushed me towards the open door. I stumbled again but kept my footing and made it into the car. Now I don't know for sure what happened next but all I remember was screaming as I fired my AK-47 into the converging mass so George could make it back to the SUV. As soon as he was inside, Kate gunned the engine and we headed back off down the highway. I pulled the back door shut and then just slumped down on the car floor. "Well, that one was a close one." I said dryly.

"You got that right." replied Steve, who had crawled back to join us. "So, now what?"

"Well for one thing we need to get off this bloody freeway." said Kate. "I know it's the fastest rout but it's just too dangerous. I'm pulling off at the next unblocked exit or entrance and we can decide what to do then, Ok?"

"Sounds good to me, lets do it." agreed Eathen. We drove for about 5 minutes in silence and then Kate found an exit and pulled off. It lead to a small town and by the time we got there it was too late to go any further.

"We need a place to stay the night. Anyone got any suggestions?" Kate looked back at us.

"How about that 7-Eleven up ahead?" I said, "It looks reasonably secure and it has good fields of fire around it." We all looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Kate drove us up and we all piled out. After a short and thankfully easy firefight we cleared the building and assigned watch partners. It was me and Eathen for first watch, Steve and George for the second and me and Kate for the third. Eathen started work on some temporary barricades while I unloaded the car. Everyone else fell right asleep except for George, who I could hear tossing and turning it the back.

Chapter 3

After everyone had fallen asleep, Eathen and I moved off to our watch positions. Mine happened to be on the roof by the outlet of a vent. Since I was on the roof, I had taken our .30-06 rifle with a night vision Starlight scope instead of my usual AK. Sense my first scan hadn't showed any zed heads in the area I let my mind wander a bit. I had a lot of things to think about so this wasn't hard but, two issues were really nagging me. The first one was obviously George and it would just take a while before it went away. The second issue was a little more important. When the infestation started me and my team mates went directly to our fortress and so we hadn't been exposed to zombies that much and we thought that the only difference between zombies was looks. But now that in infection had taken a stronger hold, it looked like things were starting to change.

For instance, although I hadn't paid attention to it until now, zombies were getting faster. Also, during the big horde battle I noticed that some of the infected had looked a bit strange and I swear the one of them had let off a cloud of smoke when it died. Maybe the virus was changing or mutating. Maybe an airborne strain would evolve. Maybe… suddenly I was shaken out of my thoughts by Eathen shaking my shoulder. "Come on man, wake up. You could have gotten us killed. It's a good thing I came up to check on you. How long have you been out?"

"Sorry, I got off thinking. What time is it?"

"Time to change the guard. Tell you what, why don't I take your next guard shift so you can get some good sleep. OK?"

"Thanks, and please don't tell the others about this. I don't want another lecture on guard duty."

"No problem now come on lets wake the others. So, any signs of your memory coming back?

"Not really, just disjointed images and flashbacks. I think it was something military related though."

"It will come back in… wait, do you hear that?" We stopped walking and now that I listened I heard a faint rustling and a something that almost sounded like someone puking. But it sounded like it was coming from out of the vent which led inside. We both looked at each other and the sprinted for the hatch back inside. Eathen flung open the hatch and dived down it, not even using the ladder. I went down a little slower pausing only to close the hatch. The inside was a mess. Unknown to us, George had been bitten before he joined out group and had finally reanimated. But he hadn't reanimated into a run of the mill zed head, what I saw before we shot was a fat, boil covered thing that was puking on something out of sight. That was all we saw because just then our bullets connected and the thing exploded in a shower of puke.

"What the hell! What was that thing?" I yelled as I wiped the puke off my face.

"I don't know," replied Steve as he walked into view, "but whatever it was, it used to be George."

"But that doesn't make sense," I shot back, "If he was infected, why didn't he turn into a regular zombie?"

"Beats me but I was just getting up to relive you when I heard some rustling. I looked over and saw George rolling around and swelling like a balloon. Then that thing sat up and puked on me. I pushed it back, and then ran to get the guns while Kate held it off."

"It was a boomer that attacked us." said Kate as she walked into the room.

"A what?" we all replied

"A boomer. I just found this flyer in the back room. Apparently it's a special type of infected. There are four types according to the paper, a boomer, which we just killed, a smoker, a hunter and a tank. The boomer as you saw is a fat, slow infected that vomits a substance that attracts normal infected. Which means, by the way, that we have to leave soon. The Smoker is tallish and had one arm that is covered boils. It can also shoot out a very long tongue to grab people. The Hunter is short with very sharp fingernails. This one will jump on people and tear them to sheds. Last of all is the Tank. All in all, it's just a giant mass of moving muscle in the shape of a man that will try it dismember anything not infected. Any questions?"

"Yes," replied Steve, "What the hell happen to make these 'special infected' things."

"This flyer doesn't say but I guess the virus mutated."

"Well this just keeps getting better and better don't it."

"Can it and let's get going before any infected show up." said Eathen, "Come on." With that parting statement he grabbed the .30-06 from my hand, picked up a backpack of supplies and headed for the car. After a couple of seconds we all followed suit and in 10 minutes we were on the road again.

No one really talked the rest of the night and we only stopped to switch drivers. About five hours latter, dawn was just starting to peek into the sky when we reached out first major obstacle. Detroit. The motor city lay directly in our path and to go around it would have taken us days and miles out of the way. No one liked it, but we had to go through. Before entering however, Kate decided that we should put together a game plan.

"Ok, well I know that wasn't the most restful night we've had in a while but there's nothing we can do about that now. First things first, we have to ditch the SUV."

"What?" cried Eathen and Steve in unison. "Why on Earth would we want to do that?"

"Use you brains you knuckleheads." I said, "The odds of finding clear roads from one end to the other is astronomically tiny. Plus, the sound will draw out every zed head in hearing range."

"He's right," chimed in Kate, "it's just too risky. We can always find transport on the other side of the city. Now on to my second point. We have to be through Detroit by nightfall."

Steve stood up "Then we better move fast, we're burning daylight. Let's go!" With That he grabbed his bags and started off.

"Hey! Get your ass back here!" I shouted after him. "We aren't done." It was too late though and he was out of earshot. "Damn it! Well come on lets go." With that we stood up, grabbed our stuff and headed after Steve into the bloody maze of the motor city.

Chapter 4

Now Detroit wasn't the kind of place that you just wandered into when life was **normal** if you wanted to keep your money/skin. Looking around at the blood stained streets and carrion though, I decided that I preferred it when it was just a crime-ridded city. You can't give a zombie your wallet and shoes to make it go away. I had fallen back to talk with Kate in a little more privacy.

"What are we going to do about Steve? He's going to get us all killed acting impulsive like this."

She shrugged and kept scanning as she replied, "What do you want me to do? Tell him to get lost or lock him up someplace? I know it was his idea to do this but you didn't have to come." With that she sped up and joined the others.

"Not like I had a lot of choice in the matter." I said under my breath. Two hours latter we had made good progress through the city with few encounters. Even I was starting to relax and I lagged a bit behind the others to look at an official posting taped onto a military APC. It read:

_Attention!_

_All civilian and military personal, evacuate the red zone. As of 17:00 hours local time the military will conduct demolition activity that will compromise the structural integrity of the buildings and streets in the red zone._

_To any remaining civilians: calmly head to the nearest evacuation center. The military has the situation under control. Do not panic._

_Colonel R. B. Homes_

_U.S. Army 10th division_

As soon as I saw that name my memories all came rushing back in a flood. I shook my head and then looked at the attached document. It was a map showing the evac points. My heart skipped a beat and I felt a chill crawl down my spine. Our evac point was one of those on the map. "Umm guys, I think you might want to look at this," I said, turning around. I looked up just in time to see Steve climbing over a barricade clearly marked, RED ZONE. "Nooo!" I yelled but I was too late. Steve had gotten to the top and looked up as I yelled. Before anyone could react he lost his footing and fell over the barricade into the red zone. As he struck the asphalt, it cracked and broke beneath him. He was able so give out one single cry before he fell into a writhing mass of zed heads that had been underground in the sewers.

"Steve!" screamed Kate. She grabbed an Uzi and fired wildly into the caldron until the gun clicked empty. Then she collapsed onto the ground crying. Eathen just stood there in shock as Steve's shrikes of torment sounded out until they abruptly stopped. Then all could be heard was the sound of moans. I sprinted over, took one look in the pit and puked. Suddenly the ground started to rumble and I saw pebbles start to get up and dance.

"What the hell?" cried Eathen, grabbing onto me, "What is that?"

"Im not waiting around to find out." I said. Come on Kate, the evac site is only a block and a half from here. I've got a map and everything. It's going to be ok, it's…" my voice trailed off for a second and my jaw dropped, "Oh my god! Run!" As I spoke, the source of the rumbling came around a corner. It was a tank. I didn't have time to focus on how grotesque it looked because I was already up and running, dragging Kate behind me as I went. I risked a glance behind me and saw Eathen still frozen in terror like a deer in the headlights of a car. "Eathen, move now!" I watched in horror as the tank ripped through the barricade like it was wet cardboard and charge Eathen. In that second he acted. At his feet lay some soldier's discarded M72 LAW anti-tank weapon. Eathen took one look at me and yelled.

"Go on, save Kate. I've got this one old buddy." Then his lips curved up in a smile. The last sight I had of him as Kate pulled me around the corner was of him standing calmly against the raging tank. Then he was gone.

"Come on!" Kate screaming in my ear jerked be back to reality and a tightened my grip on my AK and we ran towards the evac point.

"The map says that its located in the Detroit Metro Airport." I gasped, "Must be an airlift." Behind us we heard a multitude of moans overlapped with a mighty roar that was cut short by a sickening explosion. Good old Eathen, I thought.

"I see it!" yelled Kate. We managed to climb/fall over the security fence just it time as a wave of zombies hit it.

"That won't hold them for long. Let's move." We ran across the taxi ways but there was no sign of human life.

"Where are they?" said Kate in confusion, "They're supposed to be here." At that moment we heard a crash and look to see the fence fall in a twisted heap and zombies swarming over it.

"Get to the control tower!" I yelled and we took off sprinting. We had almost make it when I felt a horrible feeling in my gut just as Kate screamed and was pulled back towards the horde by a smokers tongue. She didn't get a chance to say anything else before the horde engulfed her. "What the hell! That's not fair!" I screamed and ran even faster. Right as a got to the door I heard a growl and felt something tackle me. I yelled and fell over with a hunter clawing at me. A piece of twisted metal went through my left leg and I my yell turned into a half scream as a pulled out my bowie knife and buried its blade up to the hilt in the hunters eye socket. I pushed the body off of me and dragged myself inside the tower, shutting the behind me just in time.

I had lost my AK-47 and backpack when the hunter had jumped me and all I had left was a Colt 1911 A1 with a single clip. I dragged myself to an elevator, leaving a trail of blood on the floor. Amazingly it still worked and it swiftly rose to the top. As rose, I tore a strip off my shirt and bound my leg. When the elevator stopped I hobbled out, put an iron bar through the handles of the stairwell door, grabbed the tape recorder that I'm using now, and sat down with a clear shot at the door. I can here the fuckers in the stair well now and I know I don't have long. If you find this I hope you didn't make the mistakes we did and that this tape helps you. My last regret was not being able to do more. This is Robert Benjamin Homes, former Colonel U.S. Army 10th division.

The future is in your hands.


End file.
